To see the performance boost you can get by upgrading that old PC of yours, we configured our own "old" PC and upgraded it. Our one guideline: not to exceed $500 in parts.

To replicate a system from two years ago, we chose a base unit outfitted with a 2.0-GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor using an ASUS P4GE-VM motherboard with a p478 socket and an 845GE chipset. This chipset has integrated Intel Extreme Graphics, which can be expanded using its 4X AGP slot, and a 400-MHz front-side bus (this is the most common interface for the Pentium 4 CPU, as opposed to the newer 533-MHz and 800-MHz FSBs).

What a Little More RAM Can Do

We tackled the easy stuff first: upgrading RAM. Our base system was equipped with 128MB of PC2100 DDR 266 SDRAM. Using the two DIMM slots, we took out this RAM and replaced it with a 256MB module; the system performed nicely with a total of 256MB. We then took out the 256MB module and replaced it with 512MB. Bingo: We hit the sweet spot. For only $80, we experienced a 30 percent increase on Business Winstone and a 55 percent increase on our Multimedia Content Creation Winstone benchmark tests.

We then substituted a larger, faster hard drive. Our base unit had a 40GB, 5,400-rpm drive, and we upgraded to a 160GB, 7,200-rpm drive. True, 160GB may seem rather large for general-purpose activities, but since we were already upgrading to a faster drive, we thought we'd take out some insurance on the size as well. Compared with the base configuration, the combination of hard drive and RAM boosted the performance 41 percent when running business apps and 67 percent when working on content creation apps like Adobe Photoshop.

Pushing the Envelope: A New CPU

Going further, we upgraded the 2.0-GHz Pentium 4 CPU of our base system to a 2.6-GHz Pentium 4. With the 512MB RAM, 7,200-rpm hard drive, and faster CPU, our upgraded system ran 80 percent faster on business apps and 99 percent faster on content creation. We had all but doubled our performance for just $420.

We don't recommend doing CPU upgrades, however, unless you are extremelycomfortable and familiar with the inside of your system. For most general-purpose use, upgrading the RAM and hard drive would be plenty. You can save your money on the CPU and maybe get a cool new wireless keyboard and mouse instead. These are nice touches, and they're the easiest upgrades of all.

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About the Author

Joel Santo Domingo is the Lead Analyst for the Desktops team at PC Magazine Labs. He joined PC Magazine in 2000, after 7 years of IT work for companies large and small. His background includes managing mobile, desktop and network infrastructure on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Joel is proof that you can escape the retail grind: he wore ... See Full Bio

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